Highways in Poland

Using e-Toll is obligatory for buses as well as all vehicles with maximum permissible weight exceeding 3.5 tons (including the trailer) while driving on the Polish roads (not just the highways). More details can be found on the e-Toll website.[30]

The network planned prior to WWII

Pre-WWII surface on A6 before the reconstruction (photo from 2009)

The first plans of creation of a national highway network in Poland were conceived in the interwar period:

In 1934, Nazi Germany started the construction of their motorway system, parts of which today form A18 and A4 to Wrocław (Breslau), as well as A6 Szczecin bypass and S22 (parts of the planned motorway to Königsberg). About half of them were constructed as single-carriageway with the intention of adding a second carriageway in later years. However, after 1938, warfare expenses meant little money would be invested into any infrastructure and only one 9 km single-carriageway piece west of Gliwice (now A4) was constructed.

In Poland, a 28 km stretch between Warlubie and Osiek (now DW214) was constructed in 1937 – 1939 in the motorway standard of the time (today not considered a highway) with a concrete surface, which was designed by Italian engineer Piero Puricelli. The motorway was planned to reach Gdynia, but the outbreak of the Second World War halted the plans.

Highway sections in service before 1976

Signage	Section	Length	Start of construction	Opening	Notes
	Krzyżowa () – Krzywa	12.3 km (7.6 mi)	1934	17 October 1937
	Krzywa – Wrocław	91 km (56.5 mi)		27 September 1936
	Wrocław – Brzeg (Owczary)	34.1 km (21.2 mi)		1938	Southern carriageway only
	Ujazd (Nogowczyce) – Łany	9.1 km (5.7 mi)	1940	1942
	Łany – Kleszczów (Gliwice)	8.8 km (5.5 mi)	1936	1938
	– Szczecin-Zachód	2.6 km (1.6 mi)	1934	27 September 1936
	Szczecin-Zachód – Rzęśnica	26.6 km (16.5 mi)		1938
	– Iłowa	37.2 km (23.1 mi)	1936	1938	Southern carriageway only
	Iłowa – Golnice	32 km (19.9 mi)	1935	17 October 1937
	Golnice – Krzyżowa ()	5.9 km (3.7 mi)	1936	1938
	Elbląg – Grzechotki	51.4 km (31.9 mi)	1934	1938	Western carriageway only
Total		316.9 km (196.9 mi) of which 178.5 km (110.9 mi) single carriageway	Note: Signage of the roads at the time of opening was different.

The Potsdam conference defined the borders for communist Poland, which were very different from the pre-1939 ones. It received the so-called Regained Territories from the former Third Reich with the aforementioned motorway sections (some of them with first carriageway only). Most of the motorway bridges were destroyed by the warfare, but only a few were repaired or rebuilt in the first post-war years. The bridge over Ina river was reconstructed in 1972, and those on S22 only between 1996 and 2003.

Apart from the bridges, almost all the motorways were left in the same condition as they were in 1945 until the mid-1990s. The only road left from Nazi times that was completed by the People's Republic of Poland was a one-carriageway small section between Łęczyca and Lisowo (15 km of what is now DW142), which was built on the previous works of Nazis.

Despite announcing such pompous plans, no motorway was opened in the meantime.

S6 in Gdynia, part of Tricity bypass which was opened (at first as single carriageway) in 1977, making it the oldest expressway in Poland.

Only in the 1970s did any works start. In 1972 it was planned to build:

In 1973 – 1976, "Gierkówka" dual carriageway from Warsaw to Katowice (281 km (175 mi)) was built. Originally planned as a motorway, it was in the end constructed by adding another carriageway to the existing road, hence going through many villages and crossing with local roads. The part from Piotrków Trybunalski to Częstochowa (78 km) was constructed on a new route in a motorway alignment, but nonetheless the majority of the crossings between the highway and the other roads were constructed as one-level intersections with no viaducts or overpasses.

Highway sections opened in the 1970s

Signage	Section	Length	Start of construction	Opening
	Piotrków Trybunalski – Częstochowa substandard (many one-level intersections), constructed on motorway alignment, not signed as a highway	78 km (48 mi)	1973	1976
	Tri-city bypass (eastern carriageway) substandard (two one-level intersections, then reconstructed when adding a second carriageway in the 1980s)	37.7 km (23.4 mi)	1973	1977
	Rzęśnica (end of post-German A6 motorway) – Goleniów substandard (one-level intersections)	19.3 km (12.0 mi)	1976	1979
Total		57 km (35.4 mi) of which 37.7 km (23.4 mi) single carriageway

A4 near Zalas, opened in 1983 (then renovated to modern standards in 2000, photo after renovation)

Near the end of the 1970s the first construction of motorways started and continued to the next decade. The roads opened in the 1980s were the first motorways and expressways which generally meet the contemporary standards (at least with respect to their more important attributes), although in multiple cases the poor quality of their construction forced major renovations to be performed as soon as within the first 20 years of operation.[41][42]

The major routes planned as motorways were A1, A2 and A4, while other main routes were planned as expressways. The implementation of these plans, however, came at a very slow pace: throughout the 1980s, only an average of 20 km (12 mi) of highways in the whole country were being opened per year.

Highway sections opened in the 1980s average: 20.5 km / year
Signage	Section	Length	Start of construction	Opening	Notes
	Tuszyn-Piotrków Trybunalski	16.1 km (10.0 mi)	1978	18 December 1989	Reconstructed 2019 – 2021
	Września-Sługocin (Golina)	35.7 km (22.2 mi)	1977	9 October 1985	Renovated 2002 – 2003
	Sługocin - Konin West	13.5 km (8.4 mi)	1986	10 November 1988
	Chrzanów - Kraków (Balice I)	29.6 km (18.4 mi)	1976	3 January 1983	Renovated 1999 – 2000
	Jaworzno - Chrzanów	6.1 km (3.8 mi)	1978	22 November 1986
	Kraków bypass (section Balice I - Tyniec)	7.8 km (4.8 mi)	1979	8 December 1988
	Dąbrowa Górnicza - Tychy	34.7 km (21.6 mi)	1978	1983
	Tri-city bypass (to Straszyn)	32.4 km (20.1 mi)	1978	1984	Second carriageway
	Kielce bypass	22.9 km (14.2 mi)	1974	1984	First carriageway
	Katowice - Sosnowiec	6.8 km (4.2 mi)	1978	1985	First completely done expressway
Total		205.6 km (127.8 mi) of which 55.3 km (34.4 mi) single carriageway

In the III Republic of Poland, planned S3 was promoted to motorway A3 (the decision was later reversed) and a plan was introduced (also later reversed) of constructing motorway A8 Łódź – Wrocław – Bolków (now S8/A8/S5). Szczecin bypass (A6) and section Olszyna – Krzywa (then named A12, now A4/A18) were promoted to motorways, even though at that time the majority of their lengths was in bad shape, laid with the original concrete surface from the 1930s with no significant works having been performed on any of them throughout the whole communist period.

Highway sections opened in the 1990s average: 15 km / year
Signage	Section	Length	Start of construction	Opening	Notes
	Mysłowice - Jaworzno	15.9 km (9.9 mi)	1986	29 November 1990	Northern carriageway
				4 September 1991	Southern carriageway
	Kraków bypass (section Tyniec - Skawina)	3.5 km (2.2 mi)	1988	1993
	Kraków bypass (section Skawina - ul.Kąpielowa)	5.4 km (3.4 mi)	1993	27 October 1995	A4 had a crossroad with ul. Kąpielowa till 2002, when the bridge was built over it.
	Jędrzychowice - Zgorzelec	1.8 km (1.1 mi)	1992	15 July 1994
	Katowice Francuska - Mysłowice	11.1 km (6.9 mi)	1989	30 October 1996
	Katowice Mikołowska - Katowice Francuska	1.9 km (1.2 mi)	?	10 November 1999
	Krzyżowa - Krzywa	10.2 km (6.3 mi)		1995	Renovated
	-Podjuchy	12.7 km (7.9 mi)	1996	1999	Renovated
	Olszyna-Królów	9.6 km (6.0 mi)	?	1993	Northern carriageway added (+ 350 m (383 yd) renovated southern carriageway at the border)
	Golnice - Krzyżowa	5.9 km (3.7 mi)		1995	Renovated both carriageways
	Cieszyn-Cieszyn-East	5.2 km (3.2 mi)	1991	1995
	Sulechów - Zielona Góra (Niedoradz)	26.8 km (16.7 mi)	1985	1995	Western carriageway only
	Świecie bypass	13 km (8.1 mi)	1994	1998	Single carriageway; dual carriageway near the interchanges
	Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki bypass	14.6 km (9.1 mi)	1990	1999
	Miłomłyn bypass	5.1 km (3.2 mi)	1995	1997	Eastern carriageway only
	Radzymin bypass	8.1 km (5.0 mi)	1996	1998
Total		151.8 km (94.3 mi) of which 28.8 km (17.9 mi) reconstructed, 48.4 km (30.1 mi) single carriageway

A4 (Kraków southern bypass), opened in 2003

A2 near Poznań, opened in 2004 (later widened to 2x3 lanes in 2019)

S8 near Oleśnica, opened in 2006

S1 in Bielsko-Biała, opened in 2006

As of the beginning of 2000, the vast majority of national and international traffic routes were served by regular national roads with at-grade intersections and pedestrian crossings, most of them leading through the centres of cities, towns and villages, and most of them single carriageway. Only the following number of highways was present:

• about 275 km (171 mi) of modern dual carriageway motorways and expressways (3.5% of the network as planned nowadays),
• about 90 km (56 mi) of single carriageway expressways,
• about 125 km (78 mi) of not-resurfaced Nazi German motorways from the 1930s,
• about 150 km (93 mi) of not-resurfaced Nazi German motorways on sections where only the first carriageway had been constructed.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the tempo of highway construction started to increase. The main focus was on the west-east motorways A4 and A2. In 2002, a long-awaited renovation of the A4 from Krzywa to Wrocław (93 km) has started, which included laying new high quality surface in place of the Nazi German concrete slabs, reconstruction of all the pre-WWII bridges on the motorway and renovation of the viaducts above the motorway.

This is also the period when Poland started introducing motorway tolls, first in 2000 for the A4 section between Mysłowice and Kraków.

Highway sections opened in 2000 – 2003 average: 57 km / year
Signage	Section	Length	Start of construction	Opening	Notes
	Poznań Komorniki - Poznań Krzesiny	11.2 km (7.0 mi)	1998	13 September 2003
	Poznań Krzesiny - Września	37.3 km (23.2 mi)	2002	27 November 2003
	Bielany Wrocławskie - Brzeg (Owczary)	34.1 km (21.2 mi)	1997	16 December 2000	Southern carriageway reconstructed, northern carriageway constructed
	Brzeg (Owczary) - Dąbrówka Górna	56.6 km (35.2 mi)
	Dąbrówka Górna - Nogowczyce	34.3 km (21.3 mi)		26 July 2001
	Nogowczyce - Kleszczów	17.9 km (11.1 mi)	2001	4 December 2003	Southern carriageway reconstructed, northern carriageway constructed
	Chorzów - Katowice Mikołowska	4.4 km (2.7 mi)	1998	2001
	Kraków bypass (section ul.Kąpielowa - Wieliczka)	7 km (4.3 mi)	2000	3 September 2003
	Śmigiel bypass	4.1 km (2.5 mi)	?	2002	First carriageway
	Straszyn-Rusocin	5.4 km (3.4 mi)	2000	2001	Second carriageway
	Białobrzegi bypass	7.7 km (4.8 mi)	2001	2003
	Ostrów Mazowiecka bypass	7.6 km (4.7 mi)	2000
Total		227.6 km (141.4 mi) of which 9.5 km (5.9 mi) single carriageway

1 May 2004 was a crucial day for the history of motorway construction, and that is when the highway boom started. One of major the advantages of signing the European Union access document was that Poland could get access to large funds for co-financing the construction of new roads and upgrades of the existing road infrastructure.

These years, the existing scattered pieces of highways began to converge into the basis of the future network:

• until 2004, Katowice and Kraków (linked by A4) were the only pair of Poland's largest cities connected by a highway;
• in 2005, A4 connected Wrocław with Katowice and Kraków, while in 2009 – with Germany;
• in 2006, A2 connected Poznań with Łódź.

A large number of expressway bypasses of towns were also constructed at this time. On many of them, only one carriageway was built, with the allocated space prepared for easy construction of the second carriageway later.

Highway sections opened in 2004 – 2010 average: 151 km / year
Signage	Section	Length	Start of construction	Opening	Notes
	Gdańsk (Rusocin) - Grudziądz	24.2 km (15.0 mi)	2005	2007
		64.7 km (40.2 mi)		2008
	Sośnica - Żory	15.6 km (9.7 mi)	22 January 2007	20 October 2009
		7.5 km (4.7 mi)	2007	15 December 2010
	Nowy Tomyśl - Poznań Komorniki	50.4 km (31.3 mi)	2002	October 2004
	Konin - Łódź (Stryków)	103.7 km (64.4 mi)	2004	July 2006
	Krzywa - Bielany Wrocławskie	93 km (57.8 mi)	2002	2004–2006 (in sections)	Renovated both carriageways
	Sośnica - Chorzów Batory	15.7 km (9.8 mi)	2002	January 2005
	Kleszczów - Sośnica	19.1 km (11.9 mi)	2003	October 2005
	Zgorzelec - Krzyżowa	49.7 km (30.9 mi)	2006	August 2009
	Wieliczka - Targowisko	19.5 km (12.1 mi)	2007	2009
	Szczecin Klucz - Szczecin Kijewo	7.7 km (4.8 mi)	2005	2007	Renovated both carriageways
	Olszyna - Golnice	71.5 km (44.4 mi)	2004	2006	Constructed the northern carriageway alongside the pre-WWII southern carriageway
	- Zwardoń - Milówka	12.0 km (7.5 mi)	2002 - 2007	2004 - 2010 (in sections)	Single carriageway; then signed S69
	Żywiec - Przybędza	7.7 km (4.8 mi)	2005	2007
	Pyrzowice airport - Podwarpie	12.0 km (7.5 mi)	2005	2006	Single carriageway
	Szczecin – Gorzów Wielkopolski	81.6 km (50.7 mi)	2008	2010
	Gorzów Wielkopolski bypass	11.9 km (7.4 mi)	2003	2007	Single carriageway
	Międzyrzecz bypass	6.3 km (3.9 mi)	2004	2006
	Nowa Sól bypass	18 km (11.2 mi)	2006	2008
	Szubin bypass	4.5 km (2.8 mi)	2004	2006	Single carriageway
	Słupsk bypass	16.3 km (10.1 mi)	2008	2010	Single carriageway; dual carriageway near the interchanges
	Jędrzejów bypass	5.8 km (3.6 mi)	2003	2005	Partially (2.7 km) single carriageway
	Nowy Dwór Gdański bypass	2.5 km (1.6 mi)	2005	2007
	Elbląg bypass	4.2 km (2.6 mi)	2005	2007
	Grójec bypass	8.3 km (5.2 mi)	18 October 2006	19 September 2008
	Białobrzegi - Jedlińsk	15.7 km (9.8 mi)	6 July 2006	30 June 2008
	Myślenice - Lubień	16.2 km (10.1 mi)	2004	2009
	Kielce bypass (northern part)	7.1 km (4.4 mi)	2007	2009
	Płońsk bypass	4.7 km (2.9 mi)	28 September 2007	3 June 2009
	Skurów – Białobrzegi	17.8 km (11.1 mi)	2007	2010
	Kraków eastern bypass (first fragment)	2.8 km (1.7 mi)	2007	2010
	Oleśnica bypass	7.2 km (4.5 mi)	2004	2006
	Wyszków bypass	12.8 km (8.0 mi)	27 February 2006	14 November 2008
	Wyszków - Radzymin	17.3 km (10.7 mi)	8 December 2006	31 July 2009
	Wrocław - Kobierzyce	7 km (4.3 mi)	2007	31 December 2010
	Toruń bypass (fragment)	12.4 km (7.7 mi)	2004	2005	Single carriageway; later incorporated into A1
	Kobylanka bypass	13.8 km (8.6 mi)	2005	2007	Partially (7 km) single carriageway
	Stargard bypass	13.5 km (8.4 mi)	2008	2009
	Bydgoszcz bypass (fragment)	10.4 km (6.5 mi)	2008	2009
	Wyrzysk bypass	7.8 km (4.8 mi)	2008	2009	Single carriageway
	Poznań - Kórnik	14.1 km (8.8 mi)	2006	2009
	Ostrów Wlkp. bypass (northern part)	6.1 km (3.8 mi)	2008	2009	Single carriageway
	Piaski bypass	4 km (2.5 mi)	2002	2004
	Puławy bypass	12.7 km (7.9 mi)	2005	2007	Partially (8.7 km) single carriageway
	Barczewo – Biskupiec	20.1 km (12.5 mi)	2008	2010	Single carriageway
	Garwolin bypass	12.8 km (8.0 mi)	2005	2007
	Międzyrzec Podlaski bypass	6.3 km (3.9 mi)	2005	2008	Single carriageway
	Elbląg - Grzechotki / Kaliningrad Oblast	51.6 km (32.1 mi)	April 2006	December 2008	Single carriageway; constructed in place of a partially destroyed motorway from the 1930s
	Cieszyn - Bielsko-Biała (Komorowice)	28 km (17.4 mi)	2002 - 2005	2005 - 2007 (in sections)	Then signed S1
Total		1,055.6 km (655.9 mi) of which 276.6 km (171.9 mi) single carriageway, 100.7 km (62.6 mi) reconstructed

Rędziński bridge on A8 in Wrocław, opened in 2011

The sections opened in 2011 – 2015 belonged to the following highways:

• : + 273 km (170 mi) (A1 on the section Gdańsk – Łódź was completed in 2014)
• : + 234 km (145 mi) (A2 on the section Germany – Warsaw was completed in 2012)
• : + 88 km (55 mi) (S3 on the section Szczecin – A2 – Zielona Góra was completed in 2013, except that its older single-carriageway parts remained so until 2017)
• : + 183 km (114 mi)
• : + 138 km (86 mi)
• : + 365 km (227 mi) (S8 on the section Wrocław – Łódź was completed in 2014)
• : + 282 km (175 mi) in total

After the peak of investments before Euro 2012, very few new contracts for road construction have been signed in 2012 and 2013, which resulted in a small number of sections getting opened in 2015 and 2016 (large share of which were the last delayed fragments originally scheduled for a Euro 2012 opening). In particular:

• In 2016, the last delayed fragment of between Kraków and Ukraine was opened, making A4 the first major Polish highway completed on its whole length, as well as the first complete border-to-border highway connection.
• Also in 2016, the delayed bypass of Łódź was finished, making completed on its whole route except for those sections where national road 1 had already been a dual carriageway (see In the 1970s), allowing for a significantly lower priority of constructing the remaining stretch compared to other highways.

Since 2014, the number of signed contracts has risen again, resulting in the number of road openings having risen again since 2017.

Bridge over Vistula on S7 in Kraków, opened in 2017

The sections opened in 2016 – 2020 belonged to the following highways:

• : + 173 km (107 mi)
• : + 227 km (141 mi) (S5 on the section Poznań – Wrocław was completed in 2019)
• : + 128 km (80 mi) (S6 on the section Szczecin – Koszalin was completed in 2019)
• : + 213 km (132 mi)
• : + 128 km (80 mi) (S8 was completed in 2019 on its originally intended route from Wrocław to Białystok; an extension to Kłodzko was later added to the plans)
• : + 97 km (60 mi) (S17 on the section Warsaw – Lublin was completed in 2020)
• : + 315 km (196 mi) in total (A4 was completed in 2016)

The tunnel section of S2 in Warsaw, opened in 2021

The sections opened, or planned to get opened, in 2021 – 2025 belong to the following highways:

• : + 106 km (66 mi)
• : + 104 km (65 mi) (S3 is scheduled to get completed in 2024)
• : + 200 km (124 mi) (S6/A6 is scheduled to get completed in 2025 on its original route from Germany to Gdańsk; western bypass of Szczecin will be constructed later as an alternative parallel route)
• : + 196 km (122 mi) (S7 on the section Warsaw – Kraków is scheduled to get completed in 2024)
• : + 291 km (181 mi) (S19 "Via Carpathia" on the section Lublin – Rzeszów was completed in 2022, except that its older fragment with 2+1 lanes will remain so until 2026)
• : + 183 km (114 mi) (S61 "Via Baltica" is scheduled to get completed in 2025)
• , , , , : + approx. 60 – 80 km each (A1 was completed in 2022; S5 on the section Grudziądz (A1) – Poznań was completed in 2022; reconstruction of the second carriageway of A18 was completed in 2023; S1 is scheduled to get completed in 2025)
• : + 119 km (74 mi) in total